Heart of Stone
by MrsBadger
Summary: After the events of 'Heart of Gold,' its up to the unlikliest of characters to pick up the pieces...
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of Stone**

For the first time since hearing the news of her husband's death Caroline Burgess let her thoughts drift rather than staying sharply focused on the task at hand as she rode over the bleak, hot terrain towards the Heart of Gold. She unconsciously adjusted her veil as the shining building rose on the horizon. From a distance it could have been a palace of polished silver encrusted with diamonds rather than the dilapidated shack it was.

Caroline wondered what her husband had been thinking as he came this same way, that last time. Had there been even a twinge of remorse, doubt or guilt? Perhaps a hint of shame at the thought of what he had been planning? She sighed at her own foolishness. No, not a chance in hell. Too full of pride, of power, of his own absolutely surety in his own righteousness for any qualms to bother him.

Not that she was free to judge, Caroline reminded herself. There had been no qualms on her part either, only anger. And jealously. She had spent that morning pacing around, seeing that everything would be in order for her husband's return with the child. She ground her teeth in frustration. _How dare he,_ she seethed for the thousandth time, _how dare he throw something like that in my face?_ She, a descendent of the House of Ashbury, older and more renowned than the house of Burgess had _ever_ been. Nor, she thought scornfully, was ever like to be. She had done everything she could possibly think to do in overseeing the final preparations for the Nursery.

She had just been sitting down to compose the christening invitations when the men had come riding up to the house. She braced herself to have the baby and all the insults it symbolized thrust in her face, plastered a complacent mask on her face, and rose to greet her husband. Who never came. Instead, a jumble of men came into the entry way, and, piecemeal, she got the story of the Battle of the Whores, and the subsequent deaths that had followed. Thrusting all emotions aside, she began brusquely giving orders.

"You, Perkins," she ordered one of her husband's foremen, "get coffins for all of the bodies. Ling," she turned to the household majordomo, "Those who have families return the bodies to them and express our deepest condolences and tell them that the house of Burgess will be providing generous severance packages and that if anyone in the family needs work they need only apply to me and I will see to it. Those without families see to it they are buried in the town cemetery as soon as possible. As for my husband's body, prepare a pyre. And tonight I want you to provide enough liquor for everyone in our employ to honor my husband's memory, and I'm sure it will help ease the pain of all those who were lost today."

Movement on the horizon caught her eye and jolted out of her recent memories. Someone had darted from the front of the house to the front door. No doubt she had been spotted. She wondered if they would meet her with guns as well. Somehow she couldn't work up any anxiety over that thought. Her anger was currently acting as a shield against any thoughts of vulnerability.

She got to the house and paused for a moment on her horse. It seemed the entire Heart of Gold had assembled outside to see what the widow Burgess had come for. Caroline dismounted in one smooth motion. She smoothed her gown, made a slight adjustment to her riding habit, and approached the line of people standing in front of the brothel. "My condolences to all of you," she stated blandly, then stood motionless, waiting for them to respond before continuing.

A few in the line shifted nervously. "And to you as well," one of them finally said uneasily. She was shorter than the rest, although she may have been trying to make up for some of that height in a rat's nest of black hair piled atop her head.

Caroline inclined her head graciously in acknowledgement, and then said, "I wish to speak with Petaline and whoever is in charge."

"Petaline's the new House Mother," said one of the boys. "We decided last night."

"Very well," said Caroline, inwardly calculating what this meant and could mean, "I will speak with her now."

There was a ripple of voices and several people disagreed with this at once. She cut through them loudly, "I have come a long way today alone and unarmed, in full mourning, and wish only a few minutes of the girl's time." She surveyed the various stubborn and or disbelieving looks, sighed and said, "I promise I cause her no harm. I am _not_ my husband."

One of the oldest looking of the whores, a blonde with an assortment of spangles all over her short outfit, stepped forward and said, "Well, a few minutes then."

Caroline gave a simple nod of thanks. _And now will shall see_, she thought, wondering which direction things would go after today.


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline Burgess was ushered into a back room that was halfway between a parlor and an office. She swept herself onto the red couch, neatly arranging the folds of the black silk dress around her. The woman who stood next to the doorway, clearly left as a guard while Petaline was fetched, glared at her. Caroline gave her an exasperated look. She was hardly going to be intimidated by a common whore. It would take a lot more than that to discourage her after having been married to Rance Burgess.

Petaline entered the room, holding a wrapped up bundle Caroline could only assume was the baby whom this entire hurricane of change centered around. She very barely repressed a snort of irritation.

Petaline sat down across from her after instructing the watcher to leave them alone and to shut the door, which surprised Caroline. She wondered if it was showing the other whores she was the leader or showing Caroline they were equals and did not need people backing her to meet with the woman she had personally widowed. Perhaps a mixture of both.

Caroline surveyed the girl cooly. Still quite a lot of pregnancy fat, but other than that Petaline looked like she should still be someone's child, rather than a mother herself.

"Well, why did you want to see me, Mrs. Burgess?" she asked, a mixture of curiosity and hostility.

"I will get straight to my point," said Caroline brusquely, "as soon as my husband learned of the DNA results of that…" she hesitated over what noun to use, "_child_," she nodded at the bundle, "he rushed to his lawyer and changed his will. Not out of any suspicion of a need for this action, mind you, but merely as another chance to boast and brag and show off. Something I am sure you are aware Rance was prone to do," she added, unable to stop herself from the goading. Petaline nodded slightly, but other than a slight coloring in her checks, refused to show any sign that the shot had hit any marks.

Caroline took a deep breath. "He made that baby in your arms heir to absolutely everything he owned, which is considerable holdings, with myself appointed as his guardian until he came of age. Basically, I am in charge of the Burgess estate until the child turns 18, when he will inherit to use as he pleases."

"You can't have him, I don't care what some gorram piece a paper says-" the girl began babbling, clutching onto her baby.

"I don't want him," snapped Caroline angrily. Then made herself take another deep breath to calm down. She would not play the villain! Despite the fact, a cruel voice whispered in her head, that she genuinely did not want the baby and was probably the only person involved who did not care at all about this child. Hated him, to be honest, for what he stood for.

"Well, what _do_ ya want?" asked the girl, sounding exasperated.

"I'll be crudely blunt – if some whore's bastard is going to come into that kind of inheritance, I want to help manage his upbringing to ensure that he is worthy of it."

"Why do you care? Why don't you just take the money and go back to the Core? Leave us and the rest of the dirt you so obviously despise behind you?" she sneered at her.

Caroline sneered back, "Ever lived on a Core planet? I'd be considered a lowly country bumpkin. A nobody. And worse, the rumors and whispers about what happened here would soon follow me. I would be looked down or out right shunned from whatever social circles I _could_ have managed to get into. I'd rather rule the social circle here on this little moon."

Petaline looked genuinely surprised at the idea of Caroline Burgess being called a country bumpkin.

Caroline paused, wondering how much more to tell the girl. And she really was still just a girl, thought Caroline cynically. She sensed that backbone that let Petaline talk back to her was a result of the baby. Petaline had never tried to play any power games with Rance. Then again, those games hadn't helped Chari. Perhaps Petaline was smarter than she looked. Caroline decided speaking openly would get the best results.

"That bullet you put in my husband's brain did a lot more than protect your baby from abduction," pointed out Caroline. "It has shifted the balance of power dramatically. Everything's been thrown up in the air. I want to make sure everything is in place for the new management before the dust clears. I plan on using this turn of events as a fresh start to make new long range plans for this moon. Different from the way my husband was running this settlement."

"And where does my son come in?"

"Job security, plain and simple. Everyone who worked for my late husband, which is to say, a large percentage of this moon's population, breathes easier at the thought of a son and heir growing up being groomed to take over this place when he comes of age. No need to worry about property being split up and sold to conglomerates or Alliance and end up costing everyone their way of living."

"How do you plan on educating him?"

"I pay for tutors at first, then, when we can agree on him being old enough to leave your sight for a bit, I arrange for him to go off world, hopefully as near the Core as can be arranged, for some formalized schooling." Caroline could tell she'd hit jackpot at the mention of schooling. Petaline's face lost its mulish set and became rather soft as she looked down at her son.

"Well," hesitated Petaline, "when he's old enough he _should_ go to school, but for right now-"

"For right now you are his mother and I understand he is yours to raise." Petaline looked at her sharply, as if checking for sarcasm. "I am _not_ my husband," she said forcefully as she had said earlier.

"Glad to hear it," snapped Petaline, "'cause he sure was a _qingwa cao de_ _liumang_."

Caroline was honestly shocked for a moment to hear such language coming from the girl's mouth – for about two seconds – then she burst out laughing. "He was at that," she gasped when she finally managed to get herself back under control.

The baby suddenly started crying. "Oh, hush baby," crooned Petaline, rocking him back and forth. "Don't fret, baby, the lady will be going soon." She shot Caroline a significant look.

Caroline ignored the heavy hint to leave. She had a better view of the child now and was somewhat relieved that it wasn't a spitting image of Rance. "What have you decided to name him?" she asked, pushing aside an unacknowledged feeling of jealously.

"Jonah," said Petaline promptly.

_Delivered safe from the belly of a whale_, thought Caroline, but all she said out loud was, "And when will the christening ceremony be?"

"Uhhh, I haven't thought about that yet," admitted Petaline, caught off guard.

_I'll bet there's a lot you haven't thought about yet_, thought Caroline scornfully. Out loud she said, "Well, since I no longer have a use for them, as an early christening present I will send over all of the baby things Rance had arranged to be shipped in – on one condition," she added just as she saw Petaline's eyes light up at the prospect of things she hadn't even begun to suspect she would need for the caretaking of her baby.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

"You pick the godfather and I pick the godmother."

Petaline paused, obviously looking for some sort of trap. "Well, ok," she agreed slowly.

"Good, I will be godmother."

"Um… ok?" said Petaline, sounding very unsure of where this was going.

"Good," said Caroline, and got up to leave.

"Chari…" Petaline began hesitantly.

"Is now indentured to me," said Caroline flatly.

"A bond slave? Why would she agree to that?"

"She was… _persuaded_," said Caroline darkly, "that it was the best course for her. I don't hire traitors. They are too untrustworthy." Caroline looked at Petaline straight on and decided to thoroughly test the girl's decision to throw the little spy out. "_Property_ is much easier to control," she said cooly. Petaline didn't flinch.

"Oh, and here," Caroline laid a silk pouch on the table. "A birthday gift for you to use as you like on this child's home."

Petaline tipped it upside down and a pile of platinum cash landed on the table, a shining heap of solvency. Petaline's eyes went wide. "That must be-"

"About what I figured was three months income for the Heart of Gold," finished Caroline. Petaline looked at her questioningly. "I've banned all of my employ from visiting Heart of Gold for the next 90 days. I thought that would be best for everyone – give everyone a cooling off period." And with that she exited the room.


End file.
